Jewish Mysticism on Life After Death: What the Zohar and Sages Teach About the Soul’s Final Journey

In the book Torat HaBayit it is told: “There was once a pious man who would seclude himself in a certain place and study there the tractate Chagigah. He would turn it over and review it many times, until he learned it thoroughly and it was fluent in his mouth. He did not know any other tractate of the Talmud besides this one, and he would review it all his days. 

When he passed away from this world, he was in his house alone, and there was no one who knew of his death.

A woman-shaped figure came, stood over him, and lifted up her voice in crying and eulogy. Her sighing and crying increased so greatly that the masses gathered. She said to them: ‘Eulogize this pious man, bury him and honor him, and you will merit the life of the World to Come — for he honored me all his days, and I was never abandoned nor forgotten.’

Immediately, all the women came and sat with her and made a great and mighty lamentation over him. And the men took care of his shrouds and all his burial needs and buried him with great honor. They asked the woman who was crying: ‘What is your name?’ She said to them: ‘My name is Chagigah.’

Once that pious man was buried, that woman vanished from sight. Then they understood that it had been the tractate Chagigah, which appeared in the form of a woman and came at the time of his passing to lament him, cry for him, and ensure he was buried with honor — because he had always reviewed it and diligently studied it constantly.”

As the Tanna says (Pirkei Avot, chapter 6): “At the time of a person’s passing, neither silver nor gold nor precious stones nor pearls accompany him — but only Torah and good deeds.” (Otzrot Acharit HaYamim)

The Angel Gabriel Informs the Soul of the Day of Death

The angel Gabriel goes, by divine mission, to the holy soul to inform it that the time has come for it to leave the body. The Angel of Death goes, by his mission, to the nefesh that is on the side of the evil inclination, to force it out of the body against its will.

Even though Gabriel has informed the soul that its time has come to depart, the holy soul does not leave the body until it sees the Shechinah.

When the soul sees the three angels joining together and coming with the Shechinah, then it sees the Shechinah in Her colors — which are the colors of the angels, and bows before Her…

Honoring Father and Mother Even After Their Death

The verse in the Ten Commandments, “Honor your father and your mother,” means that one must honor them with every possible form of honor, both physically and spiritually.

One must bring them joy through good deeds, for in this they rejoice both in this world and in the World to Come, as it is written: “The father of a righteous one will surely rejoice” (Mishlei 23:24).

• “Will rejoice” – in this world during his lifetime.

• “And will be glad” – in the World to Come, after his death.

(Zohar, Yitro 93, Ra’aya Mehemna, Metok Midvash, p. 308)

One Who Intended to Repent But Did Not Manage Before Death

If someone truly intended to repent but was unable to do so and died, then the Holy One, blessed be He, elevates his will and his thought as if he had actually done it, because a good thought is joined by God to the deed.

Further on in that passage, different situations are described in which it is possible to rise up from the lowest depths of Gehinnom through good thoughts and stirrings of the heart (pp. 292–294).

(Zohar, Terumah 150; Metok Midvash, pp. 292–294)

The Nefesh Leaves the Body and Looks at It From Above

In the Talmud (Shabbat 153a) it is brought that Rav said, before his passing, to Shmuel: “At the time of my death, take pains to deliver a strong and stirring eulogy over me, to warm those who hear it, so that the compassion of those present will be aroused and they will weep — for I will be there at the time of the eulogy.”

The soul knows and “hears” what is said about it, as it is written, “The end of the matter, everything is heard…” (Kohelet).

Rabbi Abbahu said (Shabbat 152b): “Everything that is said in the presence of the dead, he knows — some say: until the grave is sealed; and some say: until the flesh decays.”

The soul’s feeling of what happens to the body continues much longer: “The worm is as painful to the dead as a needle in the flesh of the living.”

So explains also the Tosafot Yom Tov on Avot (chapter 2, mishnah 7): This is difficult and painful for the nefesh of the dead, which sees its own disgrace and decay, and the nefesh continues to exist.

This is one of the reasons for speedy burial — so that the soul not be distressed by the humiliation of the body lying exposed without burial. (Tosafot Yom Tov and the Rashba in Responsa 369)